The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1887-11-16

sultIng taunt and an unusually generou;
evening dram, and the two men had
forthwith INDUCED in a knockdown fighi
and having once aired their grievances
within the arena of the police court. reg
ularly contributed to the swelling of its
annals
At the time which write an interest.
ing bit of litigation was pending between
the two familys The 0Gradys kept
poultry, and sorry lot of fowls they
were, MANNED and crippled by the perse-
cution of the Galatians Nevertheless a
feeble tribe of ducks and geese and hens
wandered about the back yard or secured
the odorous precincts of Goats Hollow,
eontriving to pick up precarious living.
Sometimes they ventured on the premi-
ses of neighbors, and were driven away
with many loud shoe" shower of dirt
or waving of dish towels. Now, the CAL
lahans had flower garden which was at
once their glory and their pride, being
! gorgeous with snowy geraniums, prickly
cactus and redolent with herbs. The
OGrady fowls, sharing the family ami
mostly, spied out this humble paradise,
and besieged it with persistence that
was positively ghoulish. By day and by
night, through ehink and erevice, and
gates left carelessly ajar. they invaded
.t.. C.lIahoo ,.arl.r and ,,nr,1ntad the
choicest plants. When the Galatians
walled them out they burrowed under I;
when they laid coping of rocks around
the entire lot, they still contrived to make
periodical marauds. 1t was privately
whispered that the 0'tiradys used TO set
up a step-ladder in their yard 10 assist
the fowls in their depredations. Be this
rs it may, the Callahans at length got a
dog, fierce, yellow, whiskered canine,
with stub tail and an evil eye, WAR
ranted to be death on fowls Thereafter,
when a chicken. or duck or goose stole
into tie Callahan grounds, its mangled
body was promptly flung back over the
fence The 0'Gradys could not stand
this long. One day Mr.. 0'Grady paid a
visit to a neighboring druggist, and the
next morning the Callahan dog was stiff
and stark That day at noon Mr.. Gala
han swore out warrant for the arrest OF
Mr. 0'Gradv, and the trial of the latter
was set for week from the day on which
our story begins. Both families were TO
be out in force, and the suit promised to
be the occasion for airing long list of
grievances on both sides.
As the feminine heads of these two
warning factions continued their home
ward walk, it must not be imagined that
they took opposite sides of the street
Had they belonged to different grade of
society they would doubtless have con-
tented themselves with icy stares when
they met, and gone their way swelling
with horrible things they would have
liked to say Being the women they
were, they had the comfort of giving full
vent to their feelings, and walked along
side by side, in a neighborly fashion,
punctuating each step with angry words,
tart CALCULATIONS and venomous sneers-
When they had progressed a block or so
a slight distraction, of not entirely
agreeable nature, occurred. \ youthful
Callahan WIS discovered in the act of be-
Iaboring a young O'Grady with FIVE
gallon oil can. while bloody nose anda
scratch on the assailant's face attested the
ability of the O'Cirady to give as good as
the Callahan sent.
The two mothers watched the battle
with pride in the prowess of her offspring.
Neither attempted to interfere. This was
a consistent result of years Of industrious
training, valiant rally to the support of
the family traditions. II was more than
that it was salve for secret grievance
that each nourished in her heart. For
upward of year their two eldest had sus-
pended hostilities. Nay, more, Tim and
Annie exchanged shy glsnees of sympa-
thy and affection whenever they met.
They had been seen walking together
across the Hollow at night. Annie
pretty, blue-eyed little creature, who was
really modest and Iadylike, and alto
gether very exceptional product of a
public school education working upon
raw Hibernian material, had lifted up
her voice in defence of the Galatians. in
her mothers house. Tim, sturdy young
fellow. who had spent the best days of
his youth dodging the police authorities
and Industrial School, but had turned
out very decent machinest after all, had
left the paternal mansion the night be-
fore. slamming the door behind him, in
resentment of some sighting ailusion to
the OGrady's. The neighbors were be-
ginning to say that it was pity such
likely young couple should be kept apart
by family differences but the parents
preserved an uncompromising front.
Soabsorbed were both women in wa CHI
ing the outcome of the combat that they
did not at first observe a crowd that had
gathered further down the street, nor
the people running thither from all quar-
tiers. Evidently something of interest
was Transporting possibly a fire The
Callahans and 0Ciradys, Young and old
never missed fire if they could help it.
With one accord the two women started
for the scene of excitement, and as Mrs.
0Grady's short limbs were somewhat
more agile than Mrs. Callahan's longer
ones they kept well abreast, and never
paused until they had reached the out
skirts of the ever increasing crowd. Then
Mrs. Callahan stopped with prophetic
instinct, one hand pressed closely to her
painting breast.
It's the sewer. Something's happen
ed in the sewer an my Bill a-2oin to
work here the mornin'"
Norah O'Grady gave an exclamation
of disgust The idea of one of the Gala
han crowd being singled out for any spe-
cial disaster was so absurd on the face of
it that the very suggestion awoke in her
a sense of iInpatience.
An what's happened p she said, in
debative tone, accenting the second word.
man who stood at her ell
bow
Bank caved in Men under IT,"
mo, some men fell into an old cesspool
that they uncovered.
Rrtdpet Callahan did not wait To bear